The Hospital Story...

I got the OK from Husband to tell you all what happened. I'm glad he said yes, because people there is a lesson here...

Around August Husband announced that he would like to run the Big Sur Marathon. Great...I had trained all summer for my Marathon. He has run about four of his own. I figure he could train all winter. Fair is fair (thank you Billie Jean...anyone get that one?) Anyway...Husband goes for a run. Feels bad after about 2 minutes of running...pressure on the chest, not really comfortable, he figures he must just be out of shape. He goes out the next day and tries again...same thing. Maybe around September, he is walking The Little Man in the stroller. He starts feeling chest pressure again, sweating, and a sharp pain in the arm. He comes home immediately and tells me something is wrong. I (as any good wife would do) say "go to the doctor".Husband makes an appointment to see the doctor. Doctor says "it could be allergies, or any number of things...go have a stress test done to see how the heart reacts under pressure". Husband did that...all is OK. Doctor says to see a cardiologist next. True to form, Husband looses the info on who to call to schedule the test, and never quite gets around to it...

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. Husband is still complaining about feeling sick. I tell him to call another friend who is a doctor and get another opinion...he does. She makes the appointment for a cardiac catheteritization test. "Let's rule out the one thing that can kill you." Good idea.This test is done by injecting a dye into your heart to see if any of your arteries are blocked. I did not for one second believe this was the problem (like a sap, I was worried he was allergic to my cat) We are fairly healthy eaters, not a lot of junk. Husband is only about 10 pounds overweight, nothing major. He's a really active guy. Wednesday morning rolls around, he heads off for his test...kiss/kiss..."I'll call you when I'm done and you can come pick me up."I really wasn't worried about this at all. At about 1:00, I get a call...

Husband: "I'm going to be spending the night in the hospital."Me: "Why, is everything OK?"Husband: "I had an artery that was 100% blocked...they put in two stents."Me: "OMG! Are you OK? OMG!"Husband: "I am OK now. As the doctor was fixing it, he referred to it as a widowmaker."

Holy moly! How can it be that Husand was walking around with a blocked artery?!? Had his second doctor not made this appiointment, he was looking at a heart attack this year! Crazy!The weirdest part was...there was no time to worry. The time to worry would have been all the time he spent not having the test. Now that we knew about it...it was fixed. It's crazy how organized they are about the whole thing...blockage=fix it now. So they did.

According to the doctor, he is "going to feel like a million bucks" OK, we'll see. Right now, he is sitting next to me in bed reading The New Yorker. I just feel so lucky that we caught this one. The moral of the story here...Listen to your body, listen to your doctor. If you don't like what they say...go get another opinion. I just can't stress how lucky I feel that we/they headed this one off at the pass.

Even though we eat fairly healthy, it's gonna be a little less cheese, and a little more fish in this house...now you know.

I'm so glad he's okay! Those first warning signs would have frightened me. I'm just thankful they were able to prevent a heart attack later. Modern medicine constantly amazes me. Yes, listen to your body! Thanks for sharing your story with us.

First off I wanted to thank you for stopping by and commenting on my blog!I'm so glad he's okay!! It's a good lesson to learn... my FIL had a heart attack and when they went in they found 3 arteries blocked and the 4th was 50%... they weren't exactly sure how he'd made it so long w/out an attack. He has felt TONS better since the surgery. Hopefully it will be the same for your Husband!

Holy holy! I can't believe you were dealing with all of this!! Thank God he went to the doctor - my man resists doctors ALL the time and as we get older, you know, well we just might need one!! I'm gonna tell him this story....and I'm so happy all is well.

My DH has been annoyed at the PSA (Public Service Announcements) around the holiday that encourages women to give their men a gift of an annual check up. DH comments every time "That is NOT a gift". My response is that it is a gift to the family to make sure all is okay with them.

OMG Cyn! How scary! I don't visit your blog for a couple of weeks and then look what happens. I'm so glad that alls well though -- now you can really embrace 2009. Thanks for sharing. Happy new year to you and yours by the way!

I am visiting from Leslie's blog...and I feel like it was for a reason. My hubby is supposed to take Cholestrol meds but forgets EVERY night...I am so going to ride is you-know-what (umm...not in that way...) to get his levels checked and see the cardiologist. What a blessing that your husband is okay! Maybe I need to get mine checked too...

Thanks for posting this, I'm glad your husband is okay and that it was caught in time. And he will feel like a new man b/c my mom has had three and was up and running in the next week. Anyway your point was excellent and so true.

Holy Crap! Ok you have totally freaked me out! I on occasion have had what I will call cramping on my left side in my chest shoulder region. I think nothing of it because it comes and goes usually once every 6 to 8 weeks. I run at least 3 sometimes 4 times a week and I never have any issues. I eat healthy and may be about 10lbs over weight to that that I am 36 I just passed the pain off as annoying. Glad to know he is doing better.